Protector for hat sweatbands



E. lSRAEL PROTECTOR FOR HAT SWEATBANDS v VENTOR Filed July 20, 19:55

ATTCRNEY Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,024,366 PROTECTOR FOB. HAT SWEATBANDS Elias Israel, New York, N. Y. Application July 20, 1935, Serial No. 32,313

This invention relates to a device for protecting sweat bands of hats against becoming soiled. The sweat bands of hats on sale in stores are apt to become soiled from contact with the heads of prospective purchasers who try them on. This is so whether the sweat bands are the leather bands commonly used in men's and body's hats, 'or the bands of silk or other fabric which are used mostly in womens hats, or the lower part of linings of womens hats. All such head-contacting bands or lining portions of hats of whatever material are intended to be included in the term sweat ban as used herein.

Most materials used for sweat bands are more or less absorbent, and, when they have become stained or otherwise soiled by contact with prospective purchasers heads or otherwise, cannot be cleaned readily, if at all, and may be in a more or less unhygienic condition. Customers frequently object to buying, or even trying on,

- a hat which has a soiled sweat band, and some customers show objection to trying on hats which have been previously tried on by others whether the sweat band is noticeably soiled or not, having in mind the possibility of communication of skin diseases by contact with a sweat band which has been in contact with the forehead or hair of another person. V

The object of the present invention is to provide a protective device by which the sweat band of a hat will be prevented from coming in contact with the head of the person trying on or wearing the hat, which will not appreciably reduce the size of the head opening of the hat or otherwise interfere with or affect the fit and appearance of the hat, and the visible portion of which is readily removable so that when the hat is sold it may be removed quickly and without difflculty.

To these ends, a protecting device according to the invention is formed of a band or strip of thin, flexible, and most desirably transparent and moisture-proof material, such as moistureproof cellophane, or other suitable amorphous cellulosic material, of a width more than sufficient to protect the sweat band, and which, most desirably, is weakened so as to be readily torn on a line extending. lengthwise of the strip near one edge thereof; and this strip when assembled in a hat in accordance with the invention lies against the inner surface of the sweat band and has its lower portion turned beneath the lower edge of the sweat band and extending upward outside the sweat band and between the sweat band and the hat crown, the line of weaktecting strip is, however,

ness of the material being slightly above the bottom of the sweat band and on the outer side thereof but not above any stitching by which the sweat band is secured in the hat. The protecting band or strip when so secured in the hat in association with the sweatband is securely held against upward displacement and, being of suitable width, protects-the sweat band against contact with the head of anyone who puts the hat on. The visible portion of the pro- 10 readily removed when the hat is sold, or whenever desired, by simply turning it out from the hat and tearing the material along the weakened line thereof, leaving hidden by the sweat band that portion of the 15 material by which the protecting band was secured. The purpose of this line of weakness is to locate the line on which the material tears in pulling the visible portion away from the hat. Most desirably, it is formed by a row of close] 20 spaced perforations but might obviously be formed otherwise. Instead of forming the protecting strip with a line of perforations or otherwise weakening it before it is assembled in the hat, stitching by which the sweat band is se- 25 cured to the lower part of the hat crown may, if the stitches are close enough together, serve to determine the line of tearing of the protective material.

"The protecting material not only protects the 30 sweat band from becoming soiled by contact with a person's head, but it can itself be readily cleaned without danger of damaging the sweat band, especially if made of smooth moistureproof material such as cellophane. 'It thus has 35 i the important hygienic advantage that by the simple act of cleaning of! the protector danger of communication of skin disease to a person trying on or wearing the hat from one who has previously put the hat on is avoided.

In the accompanying drawing:-

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of apart of a man's hat having a protector according to the invention applied to the sweat band;

Fig. 2 is a view of a protector according to the 45 invention before it is applied to a sweat band;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a way in which the protector may be applied to a sweat'band before the sweat band is secured in a hat; and 50 Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a part of a. womans hat showing one way in which the protector' may be applied to protect the lower part, or sweat band portion, of a silk o! O her fabric lining of such hat. 5

' Referring to the drawing, and first to Figs. 1 to 3:-The protector as shown in Fig. 2 is formed by a band or strip ID of suitable thin flexible material of a. width somewhat greater than the width of the sweat band with which it is to be used or of such portion of the sweat band as it is desired to have covered by the protecting material, and most desirably of a length sufficient so that when applied to the inner face of the sweat band and the sweat band is secured in a. hat its ends will meet or preferably slightly overlap. The usual leather sweat bands for mens hats are cut with a slight edgewise curve so that when placed in the hat the sweat band will be of slightly smaller size at the top than at the bottom. For application to such a curved sweat band it is desirable that the protecting strip be correspondingly curved, as shown, for example, in Fig. 2. Near one edge ll of the strip Hi there is formed in the example shown, and most desirably, a line of closely spaced perforations H which, provided the strip is made of suitable tearable material, form a line of weakness along which the strip may be readily severed by tearing.

When assembled in a hat, as shown in Fig. 1, the main portion of the protecting strip l0 lies against the inner face of the sweat band l5 of the hat 5, and if the strip is of sufiicient width, as it most desirably is, it extends over the full width of the sweat band as shown. The lower portion l3 of the protecting strip is turned about the lower edge of the sweat band and extends upward between the sweat band and the hat crown with its line of perforations l2 coin ciding with the line of stitching I! by which the sweat band is secured to the bottom of the hat crown. The line of perforations, instead of coinciding exactly with the line of stitching, might be slightly below the line of stitching but should not be above the line of stitching.

The protecting strip ID will thus be held in place with its main portion lying against the inner face of the sweat band so as to protect the sweat band from contact with the heads of those who may try the hat on. This visible portion of the strip J0 may, however, be quickly and easily removed when the hat is sold, or whenever desired, by turning it outward from the hat and tearing it away from the turned-up portion I3 on the line of weakness formed by the perforations I 2. The turned-up portion l3 of the strip beyond the perforations will then remain hidden between the sweat band and the hat crown.

Fig. 1 shows the sweat band secured in the hat in a manner which is commonly employed for leather sweat bands of mens straw hats, the sweat band' having sewed to its lower edge an attaching strip l8 which is usually formed, as shown, of a folded strip of fabric. The sweat band is secured in the hat by stitching the attaching strip to the bottom of the crown of the hat and then turning the leather strip, or sweat band proper, up into the hat with the attaching strip lying between the sweat band and the hat crown. The line of stitching, as indicated at I! in Fig. 1, is close to the bottom of the hat crown and close to the edge of the attaching strip which is stitched to the bottom of the sweat band.

With sweat bands of this kind, the protecting strip I0 is most desirably secured to the sweat band before the sweat band is secured in the hat, the protecting strip being placed over the face of the sweat band with its lower edge portion l3 lying over the extended attaching strip l8 and with its line of perforations slightly beyond the lower edge of the sweat band, as indicated by Fig. 3, and the portion l3 of the 5 protecting strip beyond the perforations being secured to the attaching strip I8 in any suitable manner, as by basting as indicated at l9 in Figs. 1 and 3. The position of the protecting strip thus secured on the sweat band should be 10 such that when the attaching strip I8 is. stitched to the crown of the hat as shown in Fig. 1 the line of perforations will coincide with or be only slightly below the line of stitching I1. Most desirably the line of stitching I! and the 15 line of perforations or other weakened line Ofl the protecting strip should coincide. If the line of perforations is too far below the line of stitching, then when the main portion of the protecting band is torn out the edge of the part 10 I3 which remains will show, which is undesirable. And if the line of perforations were above the line of stitching its purpose would be defeated.

Obviously, the use of the protecting band of 1 the invention is not limited to sweat bands havi ing attaching strips as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. What is necessary is that the lower edge portion of the protecting band be turned up and secured between the sweat band and the hat. crown to serve its purpose of holding the protecting band in the hat and to be out of sight when the mainprotecting part of the band has been removed. Nor is it necessary that the protecting band be secured to the sweat band before the latter is secured in the hat. This has, however, been found-so far the most con venient way of attaching the protecting band in mens hats having sweat bands provided with attaching strips as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and 40 sweat bands with the protecting band attached thereto readyfor insertion and securing in the hats form a feature of the invention.

If the stitches by which the sweat band is secured to the hat are close enough together, the perforations made by the stitching needle may serve to make a suitable line of weakness in a protecting strip of tearable material such as cellophane which will permit themain visible portion of the strip to be torn away from the hidden part of the strip above the stitches. I have found it usually most desirable, however, to perforate the protecting strip, or otherwise make a line of weakness therein, before it is secured in the hat or to a sweat band. Also, instead of 5,; depending on a weakening of the material of the protecting strip to determine a line on which the visible portion may be torn away from the hidden portion of the strip, the visible portion of the strip may be severed from the 0;)

hidden portion thereof by cutting the material.

Women's hats most commonly have, instead of a leather or any other relatively heavy sweat band, a ribbon or other band of silk or other woven fabric stitched to the bottom part of the 5:, crown, the stitching usually being through an upturned lower edge portion of the ribbon or band but sometimes merely through the unturned lower part of the band. Frequently, women's hats have no sweat band separate from 70 the hat lining, the lower part of the lining within the lower crown portion 'of the hat then serving as the head contact-piece or material and therefore coming within the meaning of the term sweat band as used in this application.

Such a hat is illustrated in Fig. 4, in which the hat l6a has a lining which while' turned inside out and extending below the hat has its edge portion 2| stitched as indicated at l'la to the lower part of the crown of the hat, the lining being thereafter reversed into the hat.

In attaching at protecting strip Illa to a hat having such a lining, or to a hat having a ribbon or other band of silk or other fabric stitched to the lower part of the crown of the hat, it has been found most convenient and best to stitch the protecting strip to the hat crown before stitching in the'lining or band, then, after the lining or band is attached, turning the main portion of the protecting strip up about the lower edge of the lining or band and into protecting position as in Fig. 4. In so attaching the protecting strip by stitching, the stitching securing the strip to the hat crown and the stitching securing the lining or band to the hat crown and which also goes through the protecting strip should most desirably be in substantially the same line. The material of the protecting strip will thus be weakened along the one line by the needle perforations of both lines of stitching, and, if the stitches are not longer than about the length customary in machine sewing of bands and linings in womens hats, the resulting line of weakness serves well to determine the desired line of tearing of aprotective strip of cellophane or similar tearable material to permit the visible portion of the strip to be .tom out, and there is no need to perforate the strip before it is attached to the hat. Instead of stitching or otherwise attaching the protecting strip to the hat before the band or lining is attached, the protecting strip may obviously, be positioned and stitched to the hat crown together with the band or lining, or the protecting strip might be stitched or otherwise attached to the band or lining before the band or lining is stitched to the hat crown. And the protecting strip might, of course, be perforated or otherwise provided with a line of weakness before it is attached.

The term hat as used in the claims is to be understood as including all kinds of men's, womens and childrens hats and caps for which the invention may be found adaptable, and the term sweat band is to be understood as including all kinds of head-contacting bands and lining portions of hats and caps.' The expression face of the sweat band as used in some of the claims means that surface of the sweat band which is the inner, surface when the sweat band is secured in a hat and which contacts with the wearers head.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with the sweat band of a hat, of a strip of thin flexible material lying against the inner surface of the sweat band and having its lower portion turned beneath the lower edge of the sweat band and extending upward between the sweat band and the hat crown, the upturned portion of said material being weakened on a line slightly above the loweredge of the sweat band to permit ready removal of the visible portion of the material by tearing the material on said weakened line.

2. The combination with the sweat band of a hat, of a strip of thin flexible moisture-proof transparent material lying against the inner surface of the sweat band and having its lower portion turned beneath the lower edge of the sweat band and extending upward between the sweat band and the hat crown, the upturned'portion of said material having a line of closely spaced perforations slightly above the lower edge of the sweat band to permit ready removal of the visible portion of the material by tearing the mate- 5 rial on said weakened line.

3. The combination with the sweat band of a hat secured by a line of stitching to the bottom of the hat crown, of a strip of thin flexible transparent material lying against the inner sur- 1 face of the sweat band and having its lower portion turned beneath the lower edge of the sweat band and extending upward between the sweat band and. the hat crown, the upturned portion of said material being perforated on a line [5 slightly above the lower edge of the sweat band and coinciding with the line of stitching by which the sweat band is secured to the hat crown, whereby the visible portion. of the protecting material may be readily removed by tear- :0 ing the material on said line. I

4. The combination with the sweat band of a hat secured by aline of stitching to the bottom of the hat crown, of a strip of thin flexible material lying against the inner surface of the sweat 2:; band and having its lower portion turnedbeneath the lower edge of the sweat band and extending upward between the sweat band and the hat crown, the upturned portion of said material being weakened by the line of stitching by which the sweat band is secured to the hat crown, whereby the visible portion of the protecting material may be readily removed by tearing the material on said weakened line.

5. The combination with the sweat band of a hat secured by a line of stitching to the bottom of the hat crown, of a strip of thin flexible material lying against the inner surface of the sweat band and having its lower portion turned beneath the lower edge of the sweat band and ex- 40 tending upward and secured between the sweat band and the hat crown and held by said line of stitching, the visible portion of the protecting material being removable by severing the material adjacent said line of stitching.

6. The combination with a hat sweat band having an attaching strip secured to it at its lower edge, of a strip of thin flexible moistureproof material lying against the face of the sweat band and having an edge portion extending over and secured to the attaching strip of the sweat band, said material being weakened on a line slightly beyond the lower edge of the sweat band.

7. The combination with a hat sweat band having a convex edge, of a strip of thin flexible material attached to the sweat band and lying against the face of the sweat band, a portion of said strip extending beyond the convex lower edge of the sweat band and being weakened on a line slightly beyond the lower edge of the sweat band, whereby after the sweat band has been secured in a hat with said extending portion of the protecting material turned about the lower edge of the sweat band and extending up- 66 ward and secured between the sweat band and the hat crown the visible portion of the protecting material may be removed by tearing the material on said weakened line.

8. The combination with a hat sweat band 70 having an attaching strip secured to it at. its lower edge, of a strip of thin flexible material lying againstthe face of the sweat band, a por-v tion of said strip extending beyond the loweredge of the sweat band and being secured to the attaching strip of the sweat band to extend about the lower edge of the sweat band and upward between the sweat band and the hat crown when the sweat band is secured in a hat.

9. As a new article of manufacture, a sweat band protector formed by a curved band of thin flexible moisture-proof material of a width more than sufllcient to protect the sweat band when placed thereagainst and having a line of closely spaced perforations near the curved edge thereof to determine a line of severance. ELIAS ISRAEL. 

